Decline of US News a Barometer of Things To Come?

Tracking the decline of the U.S. print news industry is coming somewhat of a grim pastime.

The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) has just released its annual census in the States. It makes for depressing reading where traditional media is concerned and clearly shows the decline in the industry, as indicated by the reduction of staff numbers – especially in ethnic minorities. Currently, 52,600 people work full-time in newspaper newsrooms in the U.S. A figure that hasn’t been so low since 1984.

To add to that, Steve Outing, editor of the ‘Stop The Presses’ column on the Editor and Publisher mag, explains why he’s stopped buying print editions of his favourite media. Interesting.

His comment around ‘why pay for it if you can get it online for free’ is an interesting one. How long before we’ll paying an online subscription fee to read the Guardian, I wonder? How many of us have already cancelled our subscriptons to traditional media and rely on online to the job just as well?